📖 L — The English dictionary

la — Everyday, meaning 1: The sixth note in the do-re-mi singing scale (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do), also written "lah".↗ Everyday, meaning 2: LA.↗ e.g. Los Angeles, a big city in California, USA.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A sound people sing when they do not know or do not use the words (la la la).↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Also the word "the" in French and Spanish, seen in names like "La Paz".↗ Example: Sing the scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.↗ · La is the sixth note of the scale.↗ · My cousin lives in LA.↗ · She sang "la la la" because she forgot the words.↗ · "La la la, I can't hear you!" he joked.↗ · He's off in la-la land again (informal: daydreaming).↗ · In the volume entitled "La Kabbale" by the eminent French scholar and Membre de L'Institut, Adolphe Franck, there is a chapter on the "Sepher Yetzirah.'↗ He writes as follows: (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · Eliphas Lévi, the famous French Occultist, thus wrote of the "Sepher Yetzirah," in his "Histoire de la Magie," P. 54: "The Zoharis a Genesis of illumination, the Sepher Jezirah is a ladder formed of truths.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗

lab — Everyday, meaning 1: (informal, common) A laboratory: a room or building where scientists do experiments and tests.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (informal) A Labrador, a kind of large friendly dog.↗ Example: We did an experiment in the science lab.↗ · Always wear goggles in the lab.↗ · The doctor sent my blood to the lab for tests.↗ · Scientists in lab coats checked the samples.↗ · No eating or drinking in the lab.↗ · Our neighbour has a black Lab called Max.↗

label — Everyday, meaning 1: A label is a small piece of paper, cloth or plastic on something that gives information about it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: To label something is to put a label on it or write names on its parts.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To label a diagram is to write the names of its parts with lines pointing to them.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To label someone is to describe them with a word, often unfairly.↗ Example: Label the parts of the flower.↗ · Read the label before you take any medicine.↗ · Put a name label on your lunch box.↗ · The label says the jumper must be washed cold.↗ · Label both axes on your bar chart.↗ · This label warns that the product is poisonous.↗ · It's unkind to label someone as lazy.↗ · Its china label was quite coated over with dirt and cobwebs.↗

labelled — Everyday, meaning 1: With a label on it — a small piece of paper or sticker with a name or information.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of a diagram or drawing) With the names of the parts written on it and lines pointing to them.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Described with a name or word, often unfairly.↗ Example: Draw a labelled diagram of a flower.↗ · Make sure your graph has labelled axes.↗ · All the jars were labelled with their contents.↗ · Bottles labelled with a skull sign are poisonous.↗ · Check food labelled «contains nuts» if you have an allergy.↗ · His coat was labelled with his name.↗ · She was unfairly labelled as naughty.↗ · Each box was labelled «books», «toys» or «clothes».↗

labial — In Jewish tradition, meaning 1: Having to do with the lips, said of sounds made with the lips.↗ Example: This is the modern classification of the letters into guttural, palatal, lingual, dental and labial sounds.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893)↗ · Twenty-two letters are formed by the voice, impressed on the air, and audibly uttered in five situations, in the throat, guttural sounds; in the palate, palatals; by the tongue, linguals; through the teeth, dentals; and by the lips, labial sounds.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887)↗

labor — Everyday, meaning 1: Noun: hard work, especially physical work.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Verb: to work hard at a task.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Noun: workers, the people who do the work.↗ Example: We put our labor into the garden.↗ · All our labor was lost.↗ · The mice ran about and labored at the hole.↗ · The farm needs more labor at harvest time.↗ · He produced Yod, predominant in Labor, crowned, combined, and formed Virgo in the world, Elul in the year, and the left hand of man.↗ (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887)↗ · In this way two-thirds of the labor otherwise necessary is saved, for adding the third letter is only one third of the labor required to produce all the triliteral combinations.↗ (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914))↗

laboratory — Everyday, meaning 1: A room or building with special equipment where scientists do experiments and tests.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A room in a school where pupils do science practicals.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: A place where medical tests are done, for example on blood samples.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: Any place where people try out new ideas to see what works.↗ Example: Our class went to the science laboratory to test which liquids are acids.↗ · Never eat or drink in the laboratory.↗ · The doctor sent my blood sample to a laboratory.↗ · She works in a laboratory that studies new medicines.↗ · We put on lab coats and goggles before the experiment.↗ · The laboratory has sinks, gas taps and fire blankets.↗ · The school garden became a laboratory for growing beans in different soils.↗ · The results came back from the lab this morning.↗ · Now, one day Edmund made a new lantern out of something chemical that he sneaked from the school laboratory.↗

labored — Everyday, meaning 1: Done with great effort, or breathing hard and slowly, as if tired.↗ Example: Her breath was labored as she climbed the hill.↗ · He heard their labored breathing behind him.↗ · Each step was more labored than the last.↗

laborer — Everyday, meaning 1: A person who does hard physical work for pay, often on a farm or building site.↗ Example: The farm laborer emptied the bucket.↗ · The priest sent out his laborer.↗ · The lord called his laborers to cut the wood.↗

laborious — Everyday, meaning 1: Needing a lot of hard work, effort and time.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (of writing or speech) Slow and heavy, showing too much effort.↗ Example: Copying the whole book by hand was laborious work.↗ · Digging the tunnel was slow and laborious.↗ · Adding 7 forty times is laborious, so use 7 × 40 instead.↗ · The Mole's laborious spring-cleaning made his arms ache.↗ · Before washing machines, washing clothes was laborious.↗ · His laborious handwriting took ages.↗

labour — Everyday, meaning 1: Labour is hard work, especially work with your body.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Labour is the workers in a country or company, or the work they do for pay.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: Labour is the process of giving birth to a baby.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To labour is to work hard or to move with great effort.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: Labour (with a capital L) is one of the main political parties in the UK, and there are Labour parties in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.↗ Everyday, meaning 6: A labour can also be a hard task that someone is given to complete, such as one of the twelve labours of Heracles.↗ Example: Building the wall took a lot of labour.↗ · Mum went into labour at two in the morning.↗ · In the past, children worked in factories — this was child labour.↗ · The plumber charged £40 an hour for labour; 3 hours cost £120.↗ · The old horse laboured up the hill.↗ · Making the quilt was a labour of love for Nan.↗ · The Labour Party won the election.↗ (UK)↗ · The farm needs more labour at harvest time.↗ · THE CRETAN BULL.--The seventh labour of Heracles was to capture the Cretan bull.↗ · Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; (Torah EXO.20.9, JPS 1917)↗ · God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and gave judgment yesternight.'↗ (Torah GEN.31.42, JPS 1917)↗ · Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard lying words.'↗ (Torah EXO.5.9, JPS 1917)↗ · Or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?↗ (Writings JOB.39.11, JPS 1917)↗ · I shall be condemned; why then do I labour in vain?↗ (Writings JOB.9.29, JPS 1917)↗ · Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.↗ (Writings PSA.104.23, JPS 1917)↗

labourer — Everyday, meaning 1: A person whose job is hard physical work, such as building, digging or farming, usually without special training.↗ Example: The labourers dug the trench for the new pipe.↗ · My great-grandad was a farm labourer.↗ · Thousands of labourers built the railway.↗ · In the parable, the labourers in the vineyard were all paid the same.↗ · The labourer carried bricks up the ladder.↗ · Labourers often work outside in all weathers.↗ · ‘I want to get work as a day labourer,’ he answered.↗

labyrinth — Everyday, meaning 1: A complicated network of paths or passages where it is easy to get lost; a maze.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Something very complicated and confusing, like a labyrinth of rules.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: (Greek myth) The maze on the island of Crete where the Minotaur lived.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: (science) The inner part of the ear, which helps with hearing and balance.↗ Everyday, meaning 5: A single winding path used for walking and thinking or prayer, found in some churches and gardens.↗ Example: Theseus entered the labyrinth to fight the Minotaur.↗ · The old town is a labyrinth of narrow streets.↗ · We got lost in the hedge labyrinth at the castle.↗ · The tax forms were a labyrinth of rules.↗ · The inner ear's labyrinth helps you keep your balance.↗ · Ariadne gave Theseus a ball of thread to escape the labyrinth.↗ · Chartres Cathedral has a famous labyrinth set in its floor.↗ · They stood in a labyrinth of endless halls and arched passages, all communicating with each other.↗

lac — Everyday, meaning 1: A lac is a sum of one hundred thousand (100,000), used for large amounts of money in India.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A lac is a sticky red resin made by insects and used to make varnish.↗ Example: He offered her a lac of rupees.↗ · A lac is a hundred thousand.↗ · The wise man was paid a lac of rupees for his advice.↗

lace — Everyday, meaning 1: A lace (or shoelace) is a thin string used to tie a shoe or boot.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Lace is a fine, delicate cloth with patterns of holes, used on dresses, curtains and tablecloths.↗ Everyday, meaning 3: To lace (up) means to tie shoes or boots with laces.↗ Everyday, meaning 4: To lace food or drink with something means to add a small amount of something to it, often secretly.↗ Example: Tie your laces before you run.↗ · My laces came undone and I tripped.↗ · Can you lace up my football boots?↗ · Grandma's tablecloth is made of white lace.↗ · The bride wore a veil of lace.↗ · She bought new pink laces for her trainers.↗ · The pie was laced with cinnamon.↗ · Tuck your laces in so they do not catch in the bike chain.↗ · In white crape and lace she was like a floating swan.↗

lacerate — Everyday, meaning 1: To lacerate skin or flesh is to cut or tear it badly, leaving a jagged wound.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: (literary) To lacerate someone's feelings is to hurt them deeply.↗ Example: He lacerated his knee on the sharp rocks.↗ · Broken glass can lacerate your feet.↗ · The nurse cleaned the lacerated skin.↗ · The thorns lacerated her arms.↗ · The harsh words lacerated his feelings.↗ · Wear gloves so the wire does not lacerate your hands.↗ · The Wolf, having no cause of fear, at his leisure lacerated or destroyed the whole flock.↗

lack — Everyday, meaning 1: To lack means not to have something, or not to have enough of it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A lack is not having enough: a lack of sleep, a lack of water.↗ Example: He lacks $3 to buy the book.↗ · The team lacks 2 players.↗ · The class lacks 5 chairs.↗ · How much does she lack to have 50?↗ · The plants died from a lack of water.↗ · A lack of sleep makes it hard to think.↗ · The town lacks a swimming pool.↗ · The game was stopped for lack of light.↗ · There was no lack of society at our home.↗ · And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.↗ (Torah EXO.16.18, JPS 1917)↗ · a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.↗ (Torah DEU.8.9, JPS 1917)↗ · Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?'↗ And He said: 'I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five.'↗ (Torah GEN.18.28, JPS 1917)↗ · Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no oil.↗ (Writings ECC.9.8, JPS 1917)↗ · The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.↗ (Writings JOB.4.11, JPS 1917)↗ · He shall die for lack of instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall reel.↗ (Writings PRO.5.23, JPS 1917)↗

lacketh — Early Modern English, meaning 1: «lacketh» means «lacks», a form of «lack».↗ e.g. To lack means not to have something, or not to have enough of it.↗ Example: and they said unto Moses: 'Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war that are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.↗ (Torah NUM.31.49, JPS 1917)

lackey — Everyday, meaning 1: A lackey is a male servant in uniform who waits on rich people and opens doors for them.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: A lackey can also be a person who obeys others weakly and without thought.↗ Example: The lackeys opened the great gates.↗ · The lackey brought the king a silver cup.↗ · Do not be a lackey for anyone.↗

lacking — Everyday, meaning 1: Lacking means not having something you need, or not having enough of it.↗ Everyday, meaning 2: Lacking in something means having too little of it: lacking in sleep.↗ Example: The set is lacking 3 cards.↗ · She was lacking $5 to buy the toy.↗ · The puzzle is lacking 12 pieces out of 100.↗ · They were lacking 2 players for a team of 11.↗ · The plant was lacking water, so its leaves drooped.↗ · The story was lacking an ending.↗ · He felt tired because he was lacking sleep.↗ · Nothing was lacking for the picnic.↗ · Only thy coat is lacking before I keep my word.↗ · And every meal-offering of thine shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meal-offering; with all thy offerings thou shalt offer salt.↗ (Torah LEV.2.13, JPS 1917)↗ · And truth is lacking, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.↗ (Prophets ISA.59.15, JPS 1917)↗ · And they said: 'O LORD, the God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?'↗ (Prophets JDG.21.3, JPS 1917)↗ · And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon's table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking.↗ (Prophets 1KI.5.7, JPS 1917)↗